Treasure Island

Yo-ho-ho and I'll have a little more of that dinner wine, says a domesticated Long John Silver.

At home with Long John Silver

Between his two feature outings as Long John Silver, Newton
had hammed it up similarly as Edward Teach, the titular
character of Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952). The man was
born to play memorable pirates. Unfortunately he got only one
more chance to chew up the ersatz British and Caribbean
scenery—in twenty-six episodes of a television series.

Newton, Kit Taylor and Connie Gilchrist reprised their recent
movie roles in The Adventures of Long John Silver, which was shot in Australia in 1955, I believe— before Australia
even had television. It was shown in England and America in 1956
or 1957 and around the rest of the world over the next decade, as well as later in the 1980s.
They might have made more if Newton hadn't died at the height of
his fame in 1956.

When the baby boomers were very young, The Adventures of Long John Silver seemed like one of the most exciting things on TV, along with Zorro, Ivanhoe and Robin Hood. More intriguing than
the others though, because Silver wasn't quite the hero the
other leads were. Kind of a bad guy, wasn't he? Except that he
chummed with good lad Jim?

Looking back at it in context now, we can see the
single-season of the show continues the taming of Silver, as he
develops a relationship with Purity, gives up rum in favour of
(gasp!) milk, and lives with the Hawkins family in an inn. He's
still a lovable rascal but no longer a cutthroat scoundrel. Yet
Newton plays him with all the old panache.

The writing and direction are better than for most TV shows
of the period, though anachronisms abound: a Christmas episode
actually references Santa Claus, who wasn't to be invented for a
century or so.

Episodes are difficult to find. Only half have been released
on DVD as of this writing. The technical quality is also not
great by most accounts, since the masters are not available for
making true copies.

But the adventure continues, with Newton's Long John Silver
at the centre, which is what any Treasure Island fan
really wants.